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Subscribe to RSSThis video grab provided by CareerBuilder.com, shows the executive chimpanzee advertisement that will air during Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5, 2012. Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo says there's nothing funny about a commercial featuring suit-and-tie wearing chimpanzees. Dr. Steven Ross of the zoo says CareerBuilder.com's commercial that shows the chimps outsmarting a human co-worker actually poses a risk to chimpanzees because people lose sight of the fact they're an endangered species and are less likely to try to save them.
CareerBuilder.com / AP
I’m the first to admit that Career Builder’s chimpanzee advertisements are funny, but then the reality of the animals’ lives and their continued population decline hits me. I’m beginning to wonder if the tide is turning on the ethics of using what should be wild animals for commercial purposes.
If our society struggles to be okay with using these animals for medical testing (see the Rock Center video below) then where should we be on this?
Ken and Rosie are 30-year-old chimpanzees that were born in research labs and have spent most of their lives in labs dedicated to finding cures for human diseases. The use of chimpanzees in invasive medical research has long been debated. Primatologists like Jane Goodall argue against the use of chimpanzees in medical research, while some researchers say testing is crucial and has saved human lives. Lisa Myers reports.
See the Youtube clips below to see Career Builder’s past Super Bowl ads.
CareerBuilder.com ads
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Excellent point! If we struggle with the idea of using chimpanzees in biomedical research, how could we accept their exploitation by companies who are using them simply to make money and gain attention? Chimpanzees in entertainment are also taken from their mothers at a young age, abused in order to be dominated by trainers, and provided only the minimum of comforts to survive. Then they are abandoned when they are no longer able to be controlled by trainers. In the past, many have ended up in biomedical research, like Jamie, Jody and Burrito at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.
I watch this video and find nothing funny about it at all. All I see are these poor chimps that are used and exploited and then abandoned and thrown away, because they no longer can generate large profits for these companies.
Sickening, what Corporations will do for $$. That 30 million for 30 seconds, could really have been used for much more beneficial purposes.
It's hard to say why companies continue to use live chimps in their ads despite warnings from top experts, but one thing is sure: live chimp actors are no longer needed! Digital simulation is cheaper and just as realistic these days! Visit our blog to learn more about why chimps don't belong in entertainment and to voice your opposition to careerbuilder's chimp ads!
There is so much wrong with CareerBuilder's continuing use of live chimps, despite the advice of experts and the pleas of chimp advocates. I recently sought CareerBuilder's assurance that they would stop. (See the letter at my blog Chimp Trainer's Daughter) but, on par with their evident tone deafness, they have not seen fit to respond. Yet. Hope is eternal.